Technical Field
This invention relates to blocking flooding water from entering underground ventilation passages.
Background Art
Surface storm waters entering and flooding underground tunnels and chambers through ventilation ducts connecting the underground chambers or tunnels to air at ground surface affect without limitation, underground transportation tunnels for road vehicles, trains, and subways, and underground chambers, such as associated with a complex of connecting tunnels and shafts, for example as used for such things as underground hydroelectric-power plants, or with underground utilities which require ventilation, such as underground transformer rooms.
In a typical subway ventilation arrangement, ventilation ducts or shafts are incorporated into subway systems near stations to exhaust stale pushed air as the train nears a station and to pull in fresh outside air as a train leaves a station, Also reducing the “piston effect” of air being forced through the tunnels at high speeds by moving trains. Typically, a ventilation duct communicates from an underground tunnel and terminates in a ventilation shaft structure below grade level that opens to the atmosphere at grade level such as a sidewalk where the opening is covered by a subway grating.
Subways have systems for handling water. When it rains, water runs down stairwells, onto platforms and thence onto tracks, and some gets in the ventilation systems through the surface grates. Drains beneath the tracks pipe water to underground sumps in pump rooms next to the subway tracks. Pumps pull the water up to pressure relief manholes open to the atmosphere at street level; from there the water drains under gravity flow into city storm sewers. The problem is that in heavy rains, storm sewers are overwhelmed and flush water back into the streets, flooding the streets with water inundates sidewalk and pours down through subway grates into the ventilation system thence into the tunnels and onto the tracks. The pumping system can only return water to the flooded street; from there the water reenters the flood pool pouring into the ventilation system, defeating the pumping system as a means of controlling subway flooding. The problem is especially acute in cities like New York and Lower Manhattan, which is low-lying, vulnerable to storm surges and dotted with grade-level grates, stairwells and other points of entry for running water into the subways.
One solution for reducing entrance of runoff water from sidewalk grate openings through the ventilation ducts down into the underground systems was raising the subway ventilation grates above sidewalk level, as was done in some locations in New York City in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn after flooding from a severe rainstorm in 2007. This not only was costly to implement but also sacrificed much of the available sidewalk area available for pedestrians. In advance of the super storm Sandy in 2013, when predicted storm surge and high tides in addition to heavy rains signaled flooding of subways, workers resorted to sandbags and fastening plywood covers over subway ventilation grates to try to prevent flooding. Sandy was testament to flood hazards of subways and vented subterranean structures. Fastening plywood covers over large numbers of air vent grates in a short period of time as a solution is an imperfect labor and materials intensive process and can be too little too late, as was made clear by subway flooding from Sandy. A simpler, faster, relatively inexpensive and more effective method of preventing flooding through sidewalk air vent gratings is needed.